Well, this is something the Czar wondered about, but never had the energy or brainpower to research.

Are you getting tired of seeing charts on how astonishingly much the average American spends on healthcare, and how little we receive treatment? And there, you also see how the nice people of Berserkistan spend only about $1 on healthcare and get all this medical treatment in a given year.
Click to enlarge.

The Czar sees these charts (there’s a classic example in the latest National Geographic, above) that demonstrate how messed up American healthcare is. But waitaminute, the Czar thinks, could there not be a causal relationship between the cost of healthcare and that we do not need to visit a doctor so much?

Indeed, Mark. B Constatin of The Wall Street Journal has done just that, and guess what he found? That Americans are among the healthiest people on our Wonderful World because we spend a lot on healthcare.

It isn’t that we dumb Americans spend too much—it’s that socialized medicine countries are not spending nearly enough. Know why that Japanese guy visits the doctor twelve times a year? Because the $2,581 he spends annually isn’t getting him well the first time!

Read the entire WSJ story linked above: it isn’t long, and it isn’t complicated, but will cheer up Americans that—you know what?—we got it pretty good. Better, in fact, than anyone else.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.